Supercomputer SAM predicts a close race for the top spot with Newcastle coming 1st & Leeds 3rd

With just a pinch over half the season played in the Championship, Newcastle and Brighton are the firm favorites to go on and gain automatic promotion to the English Premier League.

A quite complementary prediction was made by SAM (Sports Analytics Machine), the super-computer built by Ian McHale, professor of sports analytics at the University of Salford, together with his colleague Dr Tarak Kharrat when it predicted a final Championship table for the 2016-17 season.

The results indicate that both Newcastle and Brighton will build their lead and cruise to promotion with 98 and 94 points respectively whilst the high riding Leeds United will end in third place with 76 points.

Given that Leeds United are currently enjoying a rich vein of form and are expected to make the playoffs and perhaps even secure promotion to the English Premier League, the huge difference in points between 2nd and 3rd appears to be a bit unrealistic though.